Dungeons, But No Dragons

While in Charleston, SC, Lindsay and I visited the Old Exchange Building & Provost Dungeon. This building was completed in 1771 and it entertained George Washington in 1791! South Carolina declared independence from England in 1776 in this very building!

I think I was more excited about this one than Lindsay was, but she was a good sport and played along with my geekiness. :)

Our first stop was the 'basement' for the dungeon tour. Here's the door.....

And here's the view from the other side of the door - from inside the dungeon.

Just inside the dungeon door, our tour guide showed us the original sea wall of Charleston (on the right in the photo, below the black fence). Now the sea wall is about 2-3 blocks out further into the water. They expanded Charleston! The tour guide said that water still seeps in and they have to drain it out every couple weeks.

These weird stairs in the middle of the wall were once stairs down to ground level. So bizarre!

It's just the strangest thing to see stairs that empty out to nothingness!

Here's our tour guide, explaining what imprisonment was like down in this dungeon.

She told us that the mortar in between the bricks down there is made up of crushed oyster shells and then 2 other ingredients.....so if you're ever out of concrete, just crush up some seashells and mix them up with a few other things and you're good to go. lol

Some old whiskey barrels!

It's the south, isn't it??

In case you were rusty on your pirate knowledge.....here's a diagram!

Up above the dungeon are more humane things to look at - like this old postal service window. The post office was located here in 1815. Isn't it beautiful??

The woodwork was absolutely amazing.

And after talking with one of the volunteers/employees, we learned that George Washington hung out there back in the day!

Here's where George hung out......AMAZING.

And I was told that George Washington stood on this very floor - exactly where I am standing in this picture. I was mesmerized!

And after standing where I was standing, he walked out on this balcony and addressed the citizens. I'm such a history geek! It was here that South Carolina declared its independence from Great Britain - on these steps!

This is exactly what George saw as he walked out to greet the people.

Water Fountains

One of the highlights of the Charleston trip was Waterfront Park. It's a beautiful boardwalk with fountains, palmetto trees, views of the big bridge and the water - gorgeous!

Here's the cool water fountain that kids can play in.....

It was pretty hot - I wanted to jump in with my clothes on!

Here's the boardwalk/pier - so pretty...

This is the bridge from yesterday's post - very cool....

And here I am in front of my favorite water fountain of all - the one that looks like a pineapple!

The landscaping was incredible and I'm pretty much obsessed with moving water and fountains, so I was in heaven!

The top is so cute!

For a second, I thought I was in the Golden Girls show, even though it is set in Miami.....LOL

Here is Miss Lindsay at Waterfront Park....

I can't even imagine how much these mansions on the waterfront cost!

Look - even their manhole covers are decorative!

I could've sat there all day with this view.......

Things were very nautical in this area along the water.....

I felt very undressed for such a pretty place......

Charleston or BUST

A couple weeks ago, Lindsay and I met up in Charleston, South Carolina for a girls weekend. We hadn't seen each other in person for 3.5 years! She was my last roommate before I got married and we lived in a fantastic apartment in Bloomington, MN.

So it is a no-brainer that I was SO EXCITED for this trip and to finally see her and hang out like we used to! So much has happened since we were roommates: I got engaged, married, moved away to Ohio, got divorced, moved to Texas, etc. She got engaged, married and now has a 2-year-old son. Crazy stuff - and all in only 8 years time!

Anyway, on to our reunion trip.....here's the big cool bridge that we saw over and over throughout our 4 days in Charleston....

It was pretty cool - and I have better pictures of it in the post about our tour of an aircraft carrier. If you are scared of bridges, definitely don't go to Charleston - they are all over the place!

As soon as we got there, we saw exactly what I pictured Charleston to be like. Look at this beautiful house!

The palmetto trees, the architecture, the colors - I couldn't get enough. It was just magnificent.

Here's the view of the building above at night....

Charleston's look-and-feel was exactly what I was hoping it would be - romantic, slow-paced, beautiful.....

The mansions were out of a movie!

I know I want to go back there again - it's just one of those places. I knew right away that I would be a repeat visitor! (Although with as much humidity as they have, I probably wouldn't go in May again - maybe March or October)

I love all of the balconies!

This street is called "Rainbow Row" because all of the connected houses are different colors.

And they have horse carriage tours that take you all over downtown and tell you about the history of everything. I wanted to do one at night, but they said that they don't do them after dark because the headlights are hard on the horses' eyes. Ha - never thought of that!

I thought this building was stunning - I don't know what it is (a church?), but it's beautiful!

And because everything was so "suthun", I just HAD to get this t-shirt! Although I do wish it would say "Well I do Declah!".

Check out this fancy pants doorway.....

We wanted to sneak in, but we forgot our big southern lady hats at home. Damn!

This looks SO different than where I'm from in the north!

We stayed at a hotel right in the best location - in the heart of downtown Charleston. It wasn't the nicest place, but you really could NOT beat the location. We were right near the markets, museums, shops, everything.

I saw this sign on a bathroom in a candy store downtown - I thought it was humorous.......

And here's the library - looks grand, huh?

More Charleston tomorrow...........

List Friday

Top 10 Reasons I LOVED Charleston, SC

1. Beautiful architecture

2. Palmetto trees everywhere

3. Awesome southern accents/drawl

4. Tons of interesting history there - Civil War, etc.

5. Ocean breeze!

6. The old romantic southern charm

7. Gorgeous mansions/plantations

8. Amazing landscaping

9. Very friendly people

10. Great hospitality/tourism

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for the DIVERSITY in friendships that I have. When I was spending time with Lindsay in South Carolina last week, I was just thinking of how VERY different a lot of my friends are from each other - a lot of diversity......and I LOVE that and am very grateful for it.

I have friends that are in all different career fields, life stages, age ranges, personality types, political views, races, etc. I think it's significant to point out that each combination of all of these traits creates a unique person and I love that I have so many different ones in my life! I really do believe that you are a product of the people and environments that you surround yourself with and I'm lucky to have such an array of people and situations to learn from!

All of these different types of friends provide companionship in their own way and bring out different sides and traits in myself that I might not explore without that person. Some friends provide a mentor/mentee relationship, some provide accountability, and some are just good for hanging out and relaxing. Some of my friends I can totally vent to, some are good for tremendous amounts of laughing, some are comforters/nurturers and some are a plethora of spiritual guidance.

I love that I have friends that are just like me and others that are the exact opposite of me....and everything in between!

Tea Time

I blogged a while back about discovering green tea and taking a liking to it.....well it has become kind of a phenomenon in the Finance department to have "tea time" at 3pm each day. I have been slacking recently since I was out of town and then catching up, but we try to all grab our tea/honey and head into the lunch room and enjoy the cameraderie of tea time together.

Well, Maggie went to a charity fundraiser called Tea for Joy and came back with fancy pants tea cups for all of us!

Here's mine:

She picked out a special tea cup that fit each of our personalities and taste - what a thoughtful friend! Mine has lots of red in it and I absolutely love it!

Here's my special pretty cup with my blueberry acai tea in it. Now I love tea time more than ever! There's even a really cool quote on the inside of the cup. Love it!